SA women ‘suffer high rates of PTSD due to violence’

As South Africa marks 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children, the South African Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) says the sheer amount of violence by intimate partners may be even worse than imagined and the consequences lasting.

According to Sasop member Ugasvaree Subramaney, physical abuse at the hands of an intimate partner is “the most common form of violence experienced by South African women.

“That, together with rape, is a leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for women,” said Subramaney.

Women who suffer PTSD due to rape or physical assault by their partners often never fully recover.

“The nightmares, flashbacks, sleep difficulties, outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating and emotional numbness that characterise PTSD, can have a crippling effect on the sufferer’s social functioning,” said Subramaney.

“This also impacts on work, family life, education, physical health … as it costs in terms of lost income and medical care, even long after a woman has escaped an abusive situation.”

Subramaney, who is the academic head of the department of psychiatry at Wits University, said twice as many women than men “will experience PTSD during their lifetimes”.

PTSD sufferers are 80% more likely to develop other mental disorders such as depression, anxiety or substance abuse.

It is also associated with physical illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, stomach ulcers and hypertension. Without treatment, PTSD symptoms can continue for years.

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